This invention relates to an information security analysis system for mitigation of Internet security issues and computer source and executable code visualization problems. In particular the invention relates to an information security analysis system for multi-dimensional visualization and animation of intranets and computer source and executable code.
Worldwide Internet usage continues to grow at a phenomenal rate. Users include governments, institutions, businesses, and individuals, all of which have connected to the Internet for the purpose of conducting daily activities. Unfortunately, the development and implementation of security measures designed to make Internet connection a secure means of communication have not kept pace with the technological advances in the expansion of network development and interconnectivity. As a result Internet users and networks risk having their information compromised by hackers and malicious users who continue to find ways to exploit and subvert networks and data.
Used appropriately, firewall technologies can help to secure the xe2x80x9cfront doorxe2x80x9d of corporate intranets, but these technologies have trouble keeping pace with the applications, services and security that users demand. Although many products have been developed that facilitate network topology discovery, few of these are able to act passively.
Intranet security and monitoring needs are continuing to increase in both government and private industry. This is substantiated almost daily in trade publications and Internet news groups. More concrete proof of this resides in the increased requirements for security related skills outlined in government requests for proposals. Both government and private industry are spending significant amounts of time and money to address intranet mapping, monitoring, intrusion detection and computer security. This has lead to a prolific amount of organizations, offering to provide intranet computer security services, analysis tools, and associated products.
The system of the present invention acts passively and provides a methodology for performing a detailed analysis of data observed during a monitoring session.
Without introducing additional traffic on a network, the system of the present invention produces a virtual picture of network usage and network vulnerabilities. By organizing the inputs of multiple collection tools into visual schematics, Security Administrators become proactive in assessing network weaknesses and in identifying optimum locations for implementing security measures. With the information revealed by the system of the present invention, Security Administrators can identify potential traffic bottlenecks, locate the existence of backdoors, reduce bandwidth usage, develop profiles of users, and pinpoint illicit activity.
The software system of the present invention includes four interconnected modules: passive network discovery, network data recording, network data parsing, and network data analysis tools. Network data visualization capabilities are contained within the passive network discovery and network data analysis modules. The software system enables computer code analysis and the 3-D visualization and animation of network traffic and structure. Optional plug-ins further expand and enhance the software capabilities, thus allowing the software system to remain current regardless of network evolution.
The system of the present invention enables a system administrator to map the network, determine normal and abnormal usage patterns, locate virus attacks, manage network allocation, and display the network.
More technically, the analysis system is a collection, configuration and integration of software programs that reside on multiple interconnected computer platforms. The software, less computer operating systems, are a combination of sensor, analysis, data conversion, and visualization programs. The hardware platforms consist of several different types of interconnected computers, sharing the software programs, data files, and visualization programs via a Local Area Network (LAN). It is this collection and integration of software and the migration to a single computer platform that results in an approach to LAN/WAN monitoring in either a passive and/or active mode. For example, router and firewall software can be monitored in near real time to determine if the code has been functionally changed regardless of security precautions. LAN/WAN data contained in the protocols from the Data Link to Presentation layers in the OSI model are available for analysis with associated displays in two and three-dimensional space.
The architecture also enables digital data input from external sensors for analysis, display and correlation with data and displays derived from four major software groups. These are: Virus Computer Code Detection; Analysis of Computer Source and Executable Code; Dynamic Monitoring of Data Communication Networks; 3-D Visualization and Animation of Data.
The present analysis system templates and displays virus computer code in a graphical functional mode. Current techniques rely on bit stream or real-time monitoring to detect a computer virus in the host computer. The approach of the analysis system of the present invention examines the functionality of suspect code to determine if a computer virus is present prior to its execution in the host computer. The approach can be viewed as deriving a genetic structure and then determining if the genetic structure is resident, for example, in a computer program, file, or e-mail attachments.
Further, the analysis system of the present invention graphically displays and performs comparisons between like types of computer source and executable code in multi-dimensional space to determine if the code has undergone single or multiple functional alterations. The analysis system enables graphical analysis, code sequencing, and comparison of two or more similar source and/or executable computer programs to determine the degree of functional alteration. This can document, graph, animate, dynamically explore and determine functionality in a single computer source or executable program. The system of the present invention is also capable of sorting source and executable code by language and displaying the results in a graphical functional format. For example, a router""s filter table file can be monitored periodically to determine if the file has been functionally changed regardless of current standard security precautions.
The analysis system of the present invention passively discovers the physical and virtual characteristics of digital data communication networks and simultaneously displays different digital communication networks in an interactive manner. Virtual discovery is defined as the ability to determine how the digital data network is being used by its participants and who is connecting to whom at any point in time. This process also determines the configuration changes in a digital data communication network over selectable time intervals. The physical presence of the analysis system of the present invention, in the passive mode, on a LAN/WAN system is undetectable when using conventional techniques, requires no user privileges, consumes no network bandwidth, and does not interfere with communications on LAN/WAN systems. The analysis system can quickly map SubNets and build complete networks as terminal activity increases. Each active terminal target in the network is mapped and displayed along with appended information. The displayed information shows both physical and virtual relationships, as well as network representations. The analysis system can also be combined with network probes to form remote monitoring, collaboration and discovery of LAN systems. In this scenario, a terminal acts as a master unit with input from the remote probes. In this mode of operation a passive mode of operation may or may not cease depending on whether collaboration is in-band and/or out-of-band.
The analysis system of the present invention dynamically displays, rotates, and animates any data it receives from the three major software groups in three or more dimensions. Simultaneous viewing of different types of digital data in either a physical and/or virtual realms is available.
In accordance with the present invention, the connectivity and functionality for each type of digital data is displayed. The data from each of the three major software groups can be displayed and rotated on any axis on two or more separate but connected visual plains. The process also displays connectivity between different types of data from the three major software groups to include data input from external sensors. The visualization software can append user definable symbols for easier understanding by an operator or analyst. The software interacts with a node via a xe2x80x9cmouse clickxe2x80x9d and dynamically retrieves, decodes and displays information relating to the node that is represented by the three major software groups. In the event that the 3-D nodal diagrams become cluttered, the analyst contracts several nodes into single interconnecting common nodes. This capability provides an uncluttered representation of the original diagram for the analyst while maintaining functionality of the individual contracted nodes.